"The conversation about Mendoza wine has changed. It's no longer about whether to visit the region, but which version of Mendoza you want to experience first." Every year, the Great Wine Capitals network presents the Best of Mendoza Wine Tourism awards, and the 2026 edition has produced one of the most interesting winner lists in the programme's history.

Planning your visit? Discover our private winery tours in Mendoza — or explore our fine wine experiences.

For travellers planning a serious trip into Argentine wine, this list works as a curated map. The award categories cover what really matters to a discerning visitor: architecture and landscape, food, innovative experiences, sustainability and the quiet excellence of small boutique producers. What follows is a guide to what these awards mean, who won and how to turn them into a real itinerary.

What the Great Wine Capitals network really is

Founded in 1999, the Great Wine Capitals network connects twelve of the world's most prestigious wine cities: Bordeaux, Bilbao-Rioja, Napa Valley, Adelaide, Cape Town, Hawke's Bay, Lausanne, Mainz, Porto, Verona, Valparaíso — and Mendoza. Each region presents its own annual awards, and the Gold winners then compete in the international final. For 2026, the final ceremony will be in Bordeaux in November.

Mendoza has run its local edition since 2005, and the programme has become the region's most credible benchmark for wine-tourism quality. Unlike commercial rankings, the criteria here emphasise curation, ambition and contribution to wine culture rather than visitor numbers.

The eight 2026 categories and what they reveal

The eight categories of the Best of Mendoza Wine Tourism Awards each tell a different story about where the region is heading:

• Accommodation — the rise of small wine lodges as serious places to stay
• Architecture and Landscape — the visual identity of contemporary Mendoza
• Art and Culture — how wineries are integrating literature, music and the visual arts
• Innovative Experiences — the most ambitious, experiment-driven offerings
• Sustainable Practices — organic, biodynamic and water-conscious wineries
• Restaurants and Dining Experiences — the bridge between food and wine
• Wine Tourism Services — the operators who design the experience around the wine
• Small Wineries — a local category specifically for producers below a set production threshold

Innovative Experiences: Trapiche's Estación 83

Trapiche made history in 2025 by taking Global Gold at the international final with Estación 83, an immersive experience built around its restored Florentine-style winery. The project layers heritage architecture, contemporary tasting design and live storytelling about Mendoza's nineteenth-century railway era, when wine first travelled from Cuyo to Buenos Aires by train.

Trapiche has been part of Mendoza's winemaking history since 1883, and a visit today works as much as a cultural immersion as a tasting. For travellers interested in heritage wineries, we cover the full context in our Bodega Trapiche guide.

The two-Gold story: Doña Paula

Doña Paula took two Gold awards this year, a rare achievement that signals a winery operating at the highest level across several disciplines at once. Located in Ugarteche, Luján de Cuyo, Doña Paula has built its identity around terroir-driven Malbec from carefully separated vineyard parcels. The double recognition reflects both the quality of its experience design and the underlying sustainability work in the vineyards.

Small Wineries: where the most interesting wine really happens

The Small Wineries category exists because Mendoza's most ambitious viticulture often happens at producers most travellers have never heard of. Wineries producing fewer than 100,000 bottles a year work with single vineyards, native yeasts and concrete or amphora vessels. They aren't in duty-free; they're tasted in small rooms with the winemaker present.

If this is the Mendoza you're looking for, you'll find more context in our guide to fine wine in Mendoza, which addresses the difference between scale and quality in this market.

How to build an itinerary around the 2026 winners

The natural instinct is to try to visit every winner. Resist it. Distances in Mendoza are real, and chasing a checklist is the fastest way to ruin a wine trip. Here's how we think about it:

One Gold winner a day, at most

An award-winning experience is, almost by definition, designed to be enjoyed slowly. Estación 83 isn't a 45-minute tasting: it's a multi-layered visit that deserves at least three hours, plus a paired lunch. Pair one ambitious winery with a smaller, complementary visit, and lunch will fill the day.

Match the award category to your interest

• If you're interested in how food and wine come together: aim for the Restaurants and Dining winners. Most are anchored in Luján de Cuyo o Uco Valley.
• If you're interested in architecture and the visual experience: the Architecture and Landscape winners are concentrated in the Uco Valley, where modern winery design has flourished.
• If you're interested in sustainability and biodynamics: look at the Sustainable Practices winners, often in Gualtallary at higher altitudes.
• If you want to meet winemakers in person: the Small Wineries category is your shortlist.

Don't skip the icon wineries

The winners' list rotates every year, but Mendoza's founding wineries — Catena Zapata, Zuccardi, Susana Balbo — are the benchmarks against which everything else is measured. A first trip to Mendoza is incomplete without at least one of them.

What the award trends tell us about Mendoza in 2026

Reading across the winners' list, three patterns emerge:

1. The shift from "winery visit" to "designed experience". The most awarded wineries are those that treat the tasting as part of a wider narrative — about the land, history, family or craft. The transactional tasting is disappearing.

2. The rise of the small. Five years ago, the most exciting wineries to visit were the biggest. In 2026, the most recognised experiences are often at wineries producing fewer than 50,000 bottles, where the winemaker is in the room.

3. Food has become non-negotiable. The line between a winery visit and a winery lunch has dissolved. Many award-winning wineries now build the whole experience around a multi-course paired meal, not as an add-on but as the centrepiece.

FAQ

Can I book the award-winning wineries directly?

Yes, most accept online bookings through their own websites or via WhatsApp. The challenge is coordination: Gold winners fill up months ahead in high season (October to April). If you're travelling during harvest (February to March), expect lead times of 8 to 10 weeks for the most requested experiences.

Is it worth designing a trip entirely around the winners?

It depends on your style. Some travellers find it inspiring; others, limiting. Our recommendation is to anchor the trip on two or three winners that genuinely match your interests and fill the gaps with carefully curated boutique producers your guide knows personally.

How long should I stay in Mendoza to do this properly?

To experience two or three award-level wineries with the depth they deserve, plus one or two complementary boutique visits, plan for at least four full days in the wine region. Three days work for a focused trip; a week allows a complete picture, including the Uco Valley and an excursion into the Andes.

Do I need to speak Spanish?

At the award-winning wineries, no: they all have English-speaking staff. At the smaller boutique wineries the answer varies. That's one reason a private tour with a bilingual guide tends to unlock much more from these visits.

The Best of Mendoza Wine Tourism Awards offer a credible map of where wine tourism is heading in 2026. They don't replace a well-considered itinerary: they inform it. If you'd like us to design a trip around the wineries that genuinely match your profile, including the award winners and the boutique producers your guide knows personally, get in touch on WhatsApp.

Related tourPrivate Winery Tours in MendozaVisit the award-winning wineries with a bilingual concierge›

More questions? Take a look at our FAQ with 25 common questions about tours, pricing, logistics and the High Mountain excursion.